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Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive is the fifteenth season of Power Rangers. It aired on ABC Kids starting on March 3, 2007 after starting on Jetix a week earlier. It is based on the 2006 Super Sentai series, GoGo Sentai Boukenger. Power Rangers Operation Overdrive commemorated the 15th anniversary of Power Rangers, while Boukenger celebrated the 30th anniversary of Super Sentai. In terms of critical and audience reception, it is considered a passable season due to the lackluster story-line and inconsistent villains. Production History The early working title for the series was Power Rangers Drive Force, but was later changed to "Relic Hunters" and then "Operation Overdrive". In early pre-production, on July 26, 2006, the series' logo was posted on a fan message board called "Fuñaroboard." The logo is very similar to that of its Sentai source series Boukenger in the basic design and format. On November 14, 2006, Disney had set up its official website for Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. With the fifteenth anniversary of the series upon them, the producers elected to reward the fans and the show's legacy with a two-part anniversary special uniting Rangers from each of the previous Disney-era seasons, coupled with a popular Ranger from the show's most popular seasons during the 1990s. It had been long established that Johnny Yong Bosch had gained a noticeable reputation as Adam Park amongst the fanbase, and thus was asked to be the returning veteran Ranger for the special. This season also became the first since Power Rangers Zeo (excluding the preemption of the S.P.D. episode Wormhole) to end with a one-episode finale. The season also contained one of the more thought-provoking episodes of the series run, Things Not Said, which began a darker direction for the Red Ranger Mack. Jackie Marchand says Overdrive was pitched as "Indiana Jones... a new exotic location every episode" and Disney responded favorably - only to then give them a small budget and ask for the use of more stock footage. This made the show more of a challenge to work on.Toku Rants interview with Jackie Marchand: 52:32 to 554:01 Synopsis Many years ago, two brothers named Flurious and Moltor try to steal a legendary crown known as the Corona Aurora and are imprisoned throughout the galaxy. Sentinel Knight scatters the crown and its jewels on the planet Earth in hopes of preventing it from falling into the wrong hands. In the present day, world renowned explorer Andrew Hartford uncovers the crown, which frees Flurious and Moltor from their imprisonment. Andrew recruits four elite teenagers to become Power Rangers and stop the Corona Aurora from falling into the wrong hands. Although Hartford is originally opposed to it, his son Mack becomes the fifth team member - the Red Ranger. The Power Rangers search ancient civilizations and all over the world to uncover the first jewel which was once used by Neptune - King of Atlantis. In the process, they encounter the illustrious Miratrix, who is determined to find the jewels and free her master Kamdor. While searching for the Toru Diamond, the Rangers encounter an alien named Tyzonn. Tyzonn came to Earth from the planet Mercuria to stop the evil Fearcats who are intent on releasing their army which had been previously imprisoned in a mirror world. After the apparent demise of his fiancée Vella, Tyzonn is reluctant, but is eventually convinced to join Operation Overdrive as the Mercury Ranger. Together, the Rangers encounter Thor and Loki, two of the Norse gods. Their involvement leads to the discovery of the Blue Sapphire, which is stolen by Kamdor and Miratrix. When Thrax, son of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa escapes imprisonment from the Sentinel Knight, he recruits Flurious, Moltor, Kamdor, Miratrix, and the Fearcats to form an evil alliance and destroy the Rangers' connection to the Universal Morphing Grid. The Rangers must go on a quest to seek out the legendary sword Excelsior which is capable of restoring their powers and the Sentinel Knight. With the help of five former Power Rangers – Adam Park-the Black Power Ranger, Xander Bly-the Green Mystic Ranger, Bridge Carson-the S.P.D. Red Ranger, Kira Ford-the Yellow Dino Ranger and Tori Hanson-the Blue Wind Ranger, the Power Rangers unite and take down Thrax, which breaks apart the evil alliance. After the Rangers encounter a virus, Mack makes a startling discovery about himself. Realizing that he is an android, Mack begins to question his very existence but he still pulls through for his friends by merging with the Sentinel Knight to become the Red Sentinel Ranger. Meanwhile, when another Fearcat named Crazar shows up, Tyzonn discovers that Vella is still alive. Also the Rangers uncover the Star of Isis, the fourth jewel of the Corona Aurora. The Octavian Chalice holds the power to uncover the final jewel to the crown. In an ultimate struggle for it, the Fearcats are destroyed for good and so is Kamdor, but not before imprisoning Miratrix inside a gem for eternity. Flurious destroys Moltor and steals the crown and gets his hands on the jewels as well. Now with the power of the Corona Aurora at his disposal, Flurious freezes all of San Angelas. In a desperate attempt to save the world, Mack sacrifices himself to destroy Flurious once and for all. The Sentinel Knight appears and uses the Corona Aurora to bring Mack back to life. As Mack awakens, he realizes that thanks to the crown, he is now human. Thanks to Norg, Tyzonn is reunited with Vella and the Power Rangers move on with their lives now that they have saved the world from evil. Characters Rangers Other Heroes Retro Rangers Allies *Andrew Hartford: Mack's father and mentor to the Overdrive Rangers. It is believed he created the powers after finding the Crown of the Gods. * Spencer: The Hartfords' butler. * Vella: Tyzonn's fiancée. * Norg: A Yeti who dwells in Flurious' lair. * Alpha 6 Villains *Flurious: An evil creature who dwells in an ice cave on a glacier. He commands his foot soldiers the Chillers. He is constantly battling against his brother Moltor. **Chillers Flurious' foot soldiers. *Moltor: Battled his brother, Flurious, from the beginning of time to find the Jewels to the Crown of the Gods. He must reside in heat and lives within the walls of a volcano. His henchmen are the Lava Lizards, with which he creates his monstrous creations. **Lava Lizards Moltor's foot soldiers. *Kamdor: Miratrix's master. Once released he used Miratrix and then turned against Miratrix and imprisoned her in the crystal he once was trapped in. **Miratrix: The servant of Kamdor. She released him but he turned against her trapping her in the crystal he once resided in. *The Fearcats **Mig: Fearcat who searched for the Corona Aurora alongside Cheetar, also helped Benglo escape from the Prison Mirror but was destroyed and revived by Flurious Gyros and made into a Cyborg. **Benglo: Fearcat who escaped the Prison Mirror from help of his friends Mig and Cheetar. He was destroyed and revived by Flurious Gyros and made into a Cyborg. **Cheetar: Fearcat who searched for the Corona Aurora, also helped Benglo escape from the Prison Mirror but was destroyed in the proccess. **Crazar: Fearcat who can create illusions, causing Tyzonn to believe he was at his planet all along and never was the Mercury Ranger. Failing to do so was destroyed. **Evil Overdrive Rangers *Thrax: Son of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, who seeks revenge againts the Sentinel Knight for imprisoning him on the Moon for trying to retreive the Sword Excelsior and destroying him. *List of Operation Overdrive Monsters Others * Brownbeard: A Pirate from St. Lucia. * Thor & Loki: Norse Gods. Arsenal * S.H.A.R.C.: A sleek jet-like vehicle created by Andrew Hartford. It is the primary mode of transportation for the rangers. * Overdrive Tracker: The morpher of the Overdrive Rangers. It can tell the hazard levels of the treasures they find, and decode clues. It is also used to call the Driver Zords. * Mercury Morpher: The morpher of the Mercury Ranger. It can be used to summon Dump Driver (# 1) to Rescue Runner 2 (# 13). * Control Driver: Used by the Rangers to control their DriveMax Zords, they fold into a suitcase form for traveling. * Double O Zip Shooter: A hand device used by the Overdrive Rangers, the Double O Zip Shooter has many functions at its disposal. * Drive Defenders: Sidearms of the Rangers it is normally a blaster, but can transform into a saber for closer combat. * Overdrive Weapons ** Drive Lance: The weapon of the Red Ranger. ** Drive Slammer: The weapon of the Black Ranger. ** Drive Vortex: The weapon of the Blue Ranger. ** Drive Claw: The weapon of the Yellow Ranger. ** Drive Geyser: The weapon of the Pink Ranger. ** Drive Detector: The weapon of the Mercury Ranger. * Defender Vest: Andrew Hartford developed the Stabilizing Shield. It is used to neutralize the kick in the Drill Blaster by dispersing the impact. With the connection of a Dragon Scale with the Stabilizing Shield activates the Defender Vest. ** Drill Blaster: A gun created by Andrew Hartford used together with the Defender Vest. It consists of two modes. Drill Mode, and Tri-Laser Mode. * Transtek Armor: Another one of Andrew's creations, The Transtek Armor is for use of each of the five rangers. It has a Vehicle Mode and a Blast Mode. * Hovertek Cycle: A cycle created by Andrew Hartford for the use of Will the Black Overdrive Ranger. It has two modes Cycle Mode and Hover Mode. * Red Sentinel Ranger Zords Evil Zords * Moltor's Zord (Moltor) * Dragonizer (Lava Lizards & Flurious) * Lavadactyls (Lava Lizards) * Flurious' Robot (Fearcats) * Cybernetic Rex (Moltor & Lava Lizards) Episodes Comics *''Worldwide Warrior'' (Jetix Magazine #50) VHS/DVD Releases DVD * Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (Complete Season) RC2 Reception Since its release, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive has received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Many have criticized the overall weak plot, plot holes/threads and very weak characters. The toyline, which was the first which involved Bandai of America using their own molds for the mecha as opposed to simply importing the Japanese counterparts, was also panned due to the obvious drop in quality (with the Flashpoint Megazord never receiving a western release.) Notes *this is the first Power Rangers season to not air on ABC Family. *This has some similarities to SPD, aside from Bridge Carson's appearance in Once a Ranger: **There are Police Car zords. **Blue Ranger gets an aircraft. **6th Ranger's Morpher is wrist-based. **Red Ranger's Battlizer involves him combining with a robot(R.I.C. and Sentinel Knight). **The Rangers get five Zords that can combine into a Megazord and one other form.(S.W.A.T. Megazord/ Cannon for SPD, Battleship Mode/Mega Truck for Operation: Overdrive.) *Additionally, this also has some similarities to Lightspeed Rescue: **There are fire truck Zords. **6th Ranger is silver. **6th Ranger's Morpher is wrist-based. *This also has some similarities to Megaforce: **Both are an anniversary season. **6th Ranger is silver. **Black Ranger has a fast Zord. *Power Rangers Operation Overdrive follows the pattern of Executive Producer, Bruce Kalish, by having three word titles for the Episodes. SPD had one word episode titles and Mystic Force ''(excluding The Snow Prince) had two word episode titles. *''Operation Overdrive and Wild Force, are the only seasons where none of the cast members reprise their roles. Although the Rangers do appear in Super Megaforce ''(during the Legendary Battle), they stay morphed throughout this appearance. *There was a special Behind the Scenes Episode on Friday, February 16, 2007 on Jetix. *Despite the fact that there are twenty-three monsters in this season (excluding the Mechs), around eleven of them are reduced to small roles, making ''Power Rangers Operation Overdrive have the least amount of monsters in the entire Power Rangers franchise. *Behind the Scenes featurettes are at Ranger Secretshttp://www.rangersecrets.com. *This is the first season since In Space to have the original 5 colors with their respective genders, as well as the first since the latter to follow the same color set and gender of their respective Sentai counterparts as opposed to the first season where in the Yellow Ranger is female in Power Rangers while her Sentai counterpart is male. **Additionally this season has the exact same colour combination as In Space *This was the first, and so far only series, to have a completely non-living Ranger as part of the main team. Mack, the Overdrive Red Ranger, was completely robotic, but was programmed with human emotions. Though the Phantom Ranger from Turbo is arguably the first, his exact origins remain unknown. Mack is also the youngest Ranger ever, being built just 2 years before the beginning of the series, although by birth, Justin Stewart is still the youngest. *This is the last season until Power Rangers Samurai to feature a Pink Ranger for four years. **This is also the last season to have three males and two females in the core team until Power Rangers Samurai. * This is the first season since Lost Galaxy to feature Angel Grove in one episode. * In terms of syllables, this is the longest title for a Power Rangers series, with eleven syllables. In second place is Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, with nine syllables. *This is the first series since Zeo that features an Ultrazord that is officially called an "Ultrazord". **Ninja Storm technically had an Ultrazord, given the name Hurricane Ultrazord by conjecture - however it is never formally referred to by that name. It debuted in episode 34, General Deception, Part II. *Toby Slambrook's name got mentioned by giving one of Fire Heart's scales was used to power the Defender Vest. *This was the last Disney-era season to have a team up episode: Once A Ranger. The next team up would be 4 years later between the RPM Ranger Red and the Samurai Rangers in the Power Rangers Samurai TV movie Clash of the Red Rangers. *This season was the first season to be completely released on DVD and was the only season to have that honor before Shout! Factory's announcement of a DVD set containing the first seven seasons of Power Rangers. *Dwayne Cameron who plays Tyzonn and Beth Allen who plays Vella also played romantic interests in the New Zealand teen soap-opera, The Tribe. Cameron played the part of Bray and Allen the part of Amber. In both shows, they were separated from each other. In The Tribe, Cameron left the show after the third season. It could be implied Tyzonn finding Vella could be a nod to that storyline from The Tribe. *This is the first, and so far only, anniversary season where the Black Ranger of the team is second-in-command. *This is the first season since Ninja Storm that is composed of the standard team of 6 Rangers by the finale. *This is the first season since Dino Thunder to not feature a Green Ranger. **This is also the first season since Power Rangers Wild Force to comprise 6 rangers in a pattern of 4 male and 2 female rangers. Note that: ***Ninja Storm had 5 male and 1 female Ranger. ***Dino Thunder had 4 male and 1 female Ranger. ***SPD had 9 Rangers. ***Mystic Force had 8 Rangers, as did Power Rangers Ninja Steel. ****Power Rangers Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge had 10 Rangers. *This is the first season since Ninja Storm not to have the season's mentor be a Power Ranger (excluding the episode where Kanoi temporarily swapped bodies with Red Ranger Shane and Yellow Ranger Dustin). *This is the first season to have four different factions of villains. *As there are four different types of villains in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, it remains unknown who is the strongest villain in that season, as it is most likely possible that the Corona Aurora is capable of powering up any villain. *This is the first Power Rangers show to borrow the title logo from its Sentai counterpart. The second will be Power Rangers RPM. *This is the second Power Rangers season in which the Rangers are selected through a form of recruitment, much like Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. *This is the first season since Power Rangers Zeo to have a Ranger-like ally, but the first since Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to have an ally that can grow to the size of a Megazord, while also being capable of fighting at the size of a human. *While Boukenger was the first Super Sentai show to be aired in widescreen, starting with Operation Overdrive, Disney has to crop every single Sentai footage to fit for the 4:3 aspect ratio television until RPM. See Also * Operation Overdrive (Toyline) External links * Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Power Rangers - The Official Power Rangers Website de: Operation Overdrive fr: Operation Overdrive Category:Disney Era Category:2000's Power Rangers Series Category:Power Rangers Anniversary Season